I'm considering renting a home/cottage in Cape Cod for a week or two the summer of 2008 but could use some suggestions on where to look. We'd like a home within short walking distance to the beach but close enough to a town with good shopping/restaurants. We stayed at a B&B in Chatham last summer and enjoyed it but I wasn't impressed with the local beaches. Which towns from say mid to end Cape offer the best beaches ? "Best" IMO meaning warm clear water, deep soft sandy area and clean rest room services.
Any good rental Web sites to start checking out would be appreciated also. Thanks!

Past Eastham, the National Park Service owns most of the beaches on the ocean side. The water is not so warm, but the sand is soft and very deep, and there are nice NPS restrooms.

On the bay side, try Eastham, Wellfleet, or Truro. They have the warmer water and sand, but beaches are generally smallish. I can't recall ever seeing restroom services on a bayside beach.

I believe each of these towns owns one or two ocean-side beaches -- renting a property will give you the right to buy a beach pass for both sides (plus the fresh-water ponds in between).

It is a stretch to call the NPS restrooms nice. I don't think they have been updated since they were built. The restrooms at Herring Cove were kind of scary looking. Those at Marconi beach are okay.

The nicest sand we walked on was at the Skaket bay Beach in the town of Orleans - it was very soft! The sand in the beaches further north on the ocean side is coarser. Of course I am from Michigan where the sand is very fine!

Oh and the water is clear (except for kelp) and not warm at all. We were there 2 weeks ago and it was about 60. That didn't keep my husband and daughters (or many others) from swimming though!

Not that many places on Cape that are within walking distance to a good beach and a good town - usually have to compromise on quality or distance of one or both. National Park Service beaches I consider the best - but not within walking distance to a town or many rentals, since NPS prohibits both within a certain distance.

From Mid-Cape out the towns occupy the width of that part of the cape - sometimes called East and West - such as East and West Dennis. Therefore, one part is on bay side and one ocean side, usually with parking access for both.

I like the beaches and towns of Wellfleet and Truro - but the walking distance part has me stumped.

There are just not a one warm beach on Cape Cod. Okay, maybe not as cold as Maine, but plan on your lips turning blue after being in it for a while - and we loved it as kids!

The bay side of the cape will get much smaller waves (sometimes almost lake like) than the outside part - so that might be something important for you if you have small children.